Kovalev says Ward’s fans can pray for him on June 17

Boxingnews24.com

By Allan Fox: Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) says Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) got a hold of his belts somehow in their previous fight, but he’s going to take his belts back from him in their rematch on June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kovalev says that Ward’s fans can pray for him on June 17 to try and win the fight when the two face each other on HBO pay-per-view.

Ward won the last time the two fought each other on November 19 last year, but he didn’t look like the winner, both in how he fought and how he looked afterwards. Kovalev’s plan is to make sure that the 3 judges that work the fight will not be deciding his fate on June 17 like they did in the first fight. Leaving it up to the judges was a mistake on Kovalev’s part. He should have tried his best to get Ward out of there after he put him down on the canvas in round 2. Kovalev let the opportunity pass him by, and Ward turned the fight into a grappling contest immediately after the 2nd round.

”The ones who think about Andre Ward’s victory, you can still pray for him because I’m going to show it on June 17,” said Kovalev during Tuesday’s press conference in Oakland, California. ”He got those belts somehow. I think June 17 is going to be the day everybody’s going to see the way it’s supposed to be.”

Kovalev knocked Ward down hard in round 2 in their fight last year. Things were looking bad for the Oakland, California native at the time of the knockdown. Ward had no choice to stop fighting on the outside and instead turn the fight into a prolonged holding contest. That’s what we saw from Ward in his hardest fights of his career against Carl Froch, Sakio Bika and Mikkel Kessler. It shouldn’t have been unexpected that Ward would go back to that style against Kovalev, especially after he was knocked down in the 2nd round.

Ward is likely to mix elements of what he did in their previous fight when he faces Kovalev on June 17. Ward will be as slippery as an eel in using a lot of different tactics to keep from getting hit by Kovalev. You can expect a lot of the following tactics from Ward: holding, wrestling, jabbing, throwing single pot shots, ducking below the waist to avoid punches, ramming Kovalev with his head, and moving. It’s going to be a pure mix of tactics from Ward. He says the key to beating Kovalev in the rematch is to fight him. However, it’s going to likely be a very ugly fight filled with a lot of survival-oriented tactics by Ward to try and win by any means necessary.

Kovalev has to understand that this is going to be more of a street fight than a traditional fight, because Ward clearly cannot stand on the outside and beat Kovalev. That was established the last time they fought. When Ward was on the outside, he got the worst of it all night long. Kovalev has too much range, too much power and too good of an outside game for Ward to beat him by staying on the outside. That’s why he’s got to use a mix of strategies to try and squeak out the rounds the way he did last time.

“The other side is saying I have to prove a lot, I have to show a lot,” said Kovalev. ”I don’t need to prove or show anything. I showed and proved everything on November 19. Anybody who hasn’t seen that or doesn’t think that, you’re going to see it on June 17. This is what I promise and this is what I’m going to do.”

The way to beat Ward is pretty simple for Kovalev. He has to throw combinations because it’ll increase his chances of landing. If Kovalev tries to win with single shots, he’ll be made to miss much of the time. The way for Kovalev to make sure that he connects with something is to use the scatter gun approach to throwing shots. The thing is, Ward isn’t going to let Kovalev throw his combinations without running backwards or tying him up in a clinch.

Kovalev will need to be able to throw shots while he’s being held because Ward will not let go of him if he’s got him in a clinch unless he makes him let go by hitting him hard in close. It shouldn’t be difficult for Kovalev to learn how to hit Ward point blank with short punches while being held. It’s a lot easier to teach a fighter how to punch while being held than it is to teach them how to fight on the outside. Kovalev is halfway there. He just needs to take away Ward’s main asset in being able to fight on the inside. Ward’s inside holding caused vast amounts of time to go by last time they fought each other, because Kovalev wasn’t doing what he needed to do to make him not want to exist on the inside.

The referee also wasn’t doing his job by breaking the non-action. He just stood and watched, as if he wasn’t working that night. Hopefully, there’s a referee that steps in and separates the two fighters if all they’re doing is wrestling. The sport is boxing. The referee needs to realize that and not let the match turn into one long grappling contest.

”The question I have for him and his team is, with all that loud talking, who are y’all trying to convince? Me or him?” said Ward.

There may be some self-doubt on Kovalev’s part as he enters the rematch, but that’s natural. If Kovalev didn’t have self-doubt, he would obviously be laughing at the press conferences and smiling a little more. But it’s the same way with Ward. He’s got to question his own ability after the way that he performed last time. If Ward doesn’t think he might have gotten lucky last time, then his ego might be out of control, because it was a fight that he could have lost if it were a different set of judges that worked on that night. Ward can’t afford to be dead certain of victory after the way he fought last November.

The boxing fans have spoken, and many of them feel that Ward lost. Ward seems disingenuous by coming off like he clearly won last time. I think it’s a pose on Ward’s part. He’s got to feel uncertain going into the rematch, and perhaps he has even more self-doubt that Kovalev does. He has to. With the huge aount of boxing fans that think Ward lost last time, he’s got to be questioning his own ability right now and asking himself if he has enough left in the tank to win the fight. Ward does not look like the same fighter that he once was 6 years ago in 2011. Comparing Ward now to what he used to be when he beat Carl Froch in the Super Six tournament is like watching two different fighters. Ward is a lot slower now, and his reflexes don’t appear to be even close to what they once were.